Jury finds man guilty in office shooting

"It's a particularly senseless killing of a family man," Adams County District Attorney Don Quick said.Because of the first-degree murder conviction, the judge immediately sentenced Fowler to life in prison without the possibility of parole.Ciancio's brother also spoke after the verdict."Tom would appreciate the justice," David Ciancio said.Prosecutors tried to portray the murder as an act Fowler deliberated. Adams County prosecutor Yvette Werner told the jurors the fact Fowler shot Ciancio three times proves he intended to kill the former employee. Ciancio had chosen to resign from his position at Fowler Software Design a month earlier. The one-time Chief Operating Officer had grown convinced the company was headed in the wrong financial direction following, in part, Fowler's decision to donate $175,000 from the company's coffers to the Church of Scientology, of which he was a long-time member. Prosecutors say on the day of the shooting, Ciancio came to the company on the assumption Fowler was going to hand him a nearly $10,000 settlement check. Fowler's attorneys say the CEO was planning to kill himself that day, but was interrupted when Cianco showed up to the office early. "It was not with intent. It was not with deliberation. He is not guilty of first-degree murder," defense attorney Sara Strufing said. The defense rested without calling any witnesses. 9NEWS reporter Chris Vanderveen, who covered the trial, saidclosing arguments make it clear the question is not whether Fowler shot Cianco, it is whether he deliberated about the murder./>